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Today is Ella's first birthday.  Last night I had a private talk with her in her room in which I made it clear that she should not decide to turn 1 today.  But the sun came up and my baby is a whole year old now.  Ugh.

 

At the Macbeth house, we're not so big into decorations or big plans.  We mostly just center everything around the food. 

 

 For lunch, Ella got her two favorite foods: mac'n'cheese and smoothies.  Seriously, taking a smoothie away from her is close to impossible.  Then she went down for her second nap of the day so that Ben and I could get down to business getting food ready.

 

My parents were able to come over for dinner and dessert.

We had these ham and cheese sliders which never fail to please.  They are a naughty splurge for special occasions.  Make them and fall in love with them.  Go HERE for the recipe.

We also had homemade coleslaw and watermelon.

 Then it was time for presents.  Ben and I just got her a couple of books since we have enough toys for our kids to drown in.   But Nanni and Papa (emphasis on Nanni) brought over lots of presents and Ella was in heaven. 

 

I guess having your tongue out means pure joy?  After each present she kept saying, "Ah! Ah!" which in Ella babble translates to "AAAAA!  SO EXCITED!"

 Ella has a true obsession with dolls.  I find that slightly ironic since whenever I take her out in public someone usually mentions how she looks like a cabbage patch doll, a porcelain doll, or that dolls should be modeled after her.  People also say she looks like Shirley Temple, but that has nothing to do with this.  To put it simply, Ella is a doll who loves dolls.

 Ella loved her gift from Grandmum and Pop Pop.  She kept jabbing her puppy's buttons to make music over and over and continued with excited, "Ah, Ah's!"

 

And 10 points to 32 weeks pregnant me for having the most attractive face ever.  We've gotta keep some eye candy on the blog, you know.  How else would I get y'all to come back?  Obviously Ella gets her great looks from me. 

 

Since she looks so much like me...

 The presents were fantastic.  But there is something beautiful about a one year-old meeting a cupcake that she gets to have all to herself.   Before we let Ella eat any, my mom asked, "Do you want me to cut up her cupcake for her?" to which Ben and I said no because we knew something beautiful was about to happen. 

 

Stuffing entire cupcake into mouth at once = something beautiful.



 

 

Gabriella:  "God is my strength"

Ella:  "torch bearer"

Dawn: "dawn or bringer of light"

 

We picked Ella's name because we liked it, but also because of its meaning.  I don't think we could have come up with a better name for her if we would have chosen it now.  We have had countless spiritual experiences with Ella, and with her warmth, she is constantly bringing light into our home.  I've always said that Ella has this certain "glow" about her.   

 

It's funny, because Ella is intellectually way ahead for her age, but she's way behind physically -- as in she can't even pull herself up into standing position yet.  But as Ben and I got to thinking about it, we realized why she was so late crawling (she didn't start until the day our house went on the market.... a tender mercy of itself.... when she was 10 1/2 months old) was because she is always held.  Seriously.  If she's not in my lap she's in Ben's, and it had been that way since day 1 at the hospital.  It wasn't until we had to start putting her down to get our house market ready when she really had the opportunity to learn how to crawl.  That's how much we enjoy having her near.  She is a cuddler who doesn't mind being put down -- the best of both worlds.

 

Her favorite things to do are to interact with Lily and Skyler.  Whether she's playing with them or just simply watching them play, she's a happy camper.  And they're really good at including her when they can.  She started speaking really early and can say quite a handful of things.  My favorites are "I love you" which actually sounds like "I lah yuh..." and "Bye bye Dada!" when Ben's off to work.  When she's overly excited she yells "Ah ah!" and waves her arms over her head like crazy.  Her favorite game is peekaboo and starting a game can always get her to stop crying.  Whenever she goes down for naps she waits for the whole family to wave to her before she waves back and says, "Nigh nigh!"  She hates eating bread but loves to eat everything else.  She has a very mature sense of humor for her age.  She's going to be hilarious when she's older.

 

I hate my kids' birthdays.  I dread every. single. one.  But I'm glad I have a baby here to celebrate a first birthday with, even if it means she'll never stop growing up.  We love you Ella!

 

But seriously, stop growing.